The present invention relates to a sample-receiving device for sample materials in ultra-high vacuum chambers, in particular for sputter coating installations.
For such applications, use has been made, up until now, of sample holders which have a disk-like sample-bearing body with a planar upper sample-bearing surface. These disks or plates were then inserted into a recess of a mounting part, in order to ensure precisely positioned placement of the sample holder. The contact-pressure force, for this sample-receiving operation, is introduced into the sample holder from above. Once coating has taken place, the sample holder then has to be removed, for which purpose the evacuated state of the ultra-high vacuum chamber has to be disabled, and then a further sample holder has to be inserted into the mounting part, whereupon the chamber has to be evacuated anew before the next sputter operation can follow. In conjunction with the present invention, the aim is to arrange a plurality of sample holders on a turntable in an ultra-high vacuum chamber, it being possible for a robot arm to remove each sample holder from the turntable and replace it by a new sample holder, which is advanced up from a connected supply chamber.
A further aim in respect of such an application is for the sample holders to be pulled against a bearing surface of a mounting part by a predetermined force, in order to allow reproducible heating and cooling of the sample holder by heating or cooling of the mounting part. Furthermore, no components of the clamping device may project beyond the surface of the samples.